United States Dive Sites — Page 37
Showing 865–888 of 1,024
Continued from the United States dive sites guide, which covers regions, seasonality, and planning details.
SS Algoma Wreck
Michigan · 4.6–30.5 m
The Algoma was a steel passenger steamer that broke apart on the rocks of Isle Royale's southeast shore in a November 1885 storm, killing around 46 people — the worst loss of life in Lake Superior history. The ship broke in half during salvage-era storms and today only scattered stern wreckage, plating, and machinery remain, spread down the rocky slope near Mott Island. It is the shallowest and most broken of Isle Royale's major wrecks, divable at moderate depths but in a very exposed location.
IntermediateBoat entry
SS America Wreck
Michigan · 0.6–26 m
The package freighter America ran onto a reef in the North Gap of Washington Harbor in June 1928 and slid down the slope, where she lies on an incline with her bow just 2-4 ft below the surface and her stern at about 85 ft. The midship and stern remain intact, including the engine room, galley, and numerous passenger cabins, making her the most dived and most beloved wreck at Isle Royale — visible even to ferry passengers passing overhead. Her sheltered location makes her divable in most weather.
IntermediateBoat entry
SS Appomattox Wreck
Wisconsin · 4–6 m
The 319-foot Appomattox, the largest wooden bulk steamer ever built on the Great Lakes, grounded in fog and smoke off present-day Atwater Beach in 1905 and broke up where she lay. A 250-foot section of her lower bilge and a large run of collapsed port hull rest in just 15-20 feet of water about 150 yards offshore, marked by a seasonal WHS mooring buoy. Easily reached from the beach, it is metro Milwaukee's signature shore-accessible wreck dive and a favorite of snorkelers and kayakers.
Shore + boat
SS Atlanta Wreck
Wisconsin · 4–5 m
The Goodrich Line steamer Atlanta caught fire and was lost off Cedar Grove in March 1906 while running from Sheboygan to Milwaukee; all aboard escaped. Her lower hull lies mostly intact and partially buried in sand in about 17 feet of water, 800 feet from shore north of Amsterdam Park. The shallow, sandy site has served as an underwater archaeology training venue and makes an easy kayak-dive or snorkel inside the Wisconsin Shipwreck Coast sanctuary.
Shore + boat
SS Cayuga Wreck
Michigan · 20.4–31.1 m
The Cayuga, one of five early steel sister-ship steamers, sank in 25 minutes on May 10, 1895 after the wooden steamer Joseph L. Hurd struck her starboard side in dense fog near Ile Aux Galets, west of the Straits of Mackinac. She lies in 67-102 ft with a slight port list: the bow is broken off and rotated while the relatively intact stern allows limited penetration, and pontoons from failed 1890s salvage attempts still litter the site. Because she sits on the shipping lane just outside the preserve boundary, careful boat handling and surface protocol are essential.
AdvancedBoat entry
SS Continental Wreck
Wisconsin · 0–5 m
The wooden bulk freighter Continental stranded in a blinding December 1904 snowstorm after missing the course change at Twin Rivers Point; her crew reached shore safely and ice destroyed the hull over the winter. The wreckage now lies scattered in 0-15 feet of water 1.5 miles north of Rawley Point Lighthouse off Point Beach State Forest. It is an easy snorkel or shallow dive on calm days, best reached by a beach walk and swim or by kayak.
Shore + boat
SS Copenhagen (1898) Wreck
Florida · —
shipwreck near Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, Florida
IntermediateBoat entry
SS Copenhagen Shipwreck
Florida · 4.9–9.4 m
The SS Copenhagen, a 325-ft British steamer that ran onto the reef in 1900, lies broken along a rocky ledge in 16-31 ft of water about 3/4 mile off Pompano Beach. Designated Florida's fifth Underwater Archaeological Preserve and listed on the National Register of Historic Places, it is the most visited state underwater preserve with roughly 10,000 divers a year. The scattered hull plates, bow section and boilers now form a fish-rich artificial reef ideal for novice divers and snorkelers.
Boat entry
SS Cumberland Wreck
Michigan · 6.1–24.4 m
The Cumberland was a wooden side-wheel passenger steamer that grounded on Rock of Ages Reef at Isle Royale's western tip in July 1877 and broke up. Large sections of her wooden hull, her huge side-wheel, and a boiler lie in 20-80 ft, intermingled with wreckage of the steel freighter Henry Chisholm, which struck the same reef 21 years later. The two-wrecks-in-one site is a fascinating archaeology dive at moderate depth, though the reef is fully exposed to Lake Superior weather.
IntermediateBoat entry
SS Emperor Wreck
Michigan · 7.6–53.3 m
The Emperor, a 525-ft Canadian bulk freighter, struck Canoe Rocks on June 4, 1947 while her exhausted first mate had the watch, sinking in under an hour with the loss of twelve crew. The wreck is essentially intact apart from the damaged bow area, sloping from about 25 ft at the bow down to 175 ft at the stern, where the engine room and crew quarters draw experienced deep divers. With NPS moorings on both sections, she is widely regarded as the signature wreck dive of Isle Royale alongside the America.
AdvancedBoat entry
SS George M. Cox Wreck (ex-Puritan)
Michigan · 4.6–30.5 m
Built in 1901 as the passenger steamer Puritan (serving in WWI as USS Puritan), this elegant ship was refitted and renamed George M. Cox in 1933 — then ran hard onto Rock of Ages Reef at 17 knots on May 27, 1933, on her first voyage under the new name; all 125 aboard were rescued by the lighthouse keeper. Today her twisted hull lies on the reef's east side in 15-100 ft, boilers at 40 ft under the NPS mooring, with the stern rolling inverted down to 100 ft and luggage carts, sinks, and her propeller shaft still visible. A bow debris field scatters across the shallow shoal in 10-20 ft, making this a rich two-part dive at Isle Royale's western tip.
IntermediateBoat entry
SS Henry Chisholm Wreck
Michigan · 6.1–45.7 m
The Henry Chisholm, a big wooden bulk freighter of 1880, ran onto Rock of Ages Reef in October 1898 — the same reef that claimed the Cumberland in 1877 — and her wreckage lies intermingled with the older steamer's in 20-80 ft of water. The highlight is her monstrous double-compound steam engine with drive shaft and propeller, which sits upright at the base of the rocky wall in about 150 ft, rising to roughly 110 ft. The combination of shallow archaeology and a dramatic deep engine dive makes this one of Isle Royale's classic sites.
AdvancedBoat entry
SS J.M. Allmendinger Wreck
Wisconsin · 3–4 m
The steambarge J.M. Allmendinger went ashore near Fox Point in a November 1895 gale and blizzard while running lumber to Milwaukee. Her keel, keelson and floors lie intact with scattered hull fragments, rudder and boiler in just 12 feet of water about 1,035 feet off the Mequon shoreline south of Concordia University. The shallow, NRHP-listed site is an easy kayak-supported dive or snorkel on calm days.
Boat entry
SS Kamloops Wreck
Michigan · 53–79 m
The Kamloops, a Canada Steamship Lines package freighter, vanished with all 22 hands in a December 1927 storm and was not found until 1977, lying on her starboard side off Twelve O'Clock Point in roughly 175 to 260+ ft of near-freezing water. She is astonishingly intact and undisturbed — cargo still in her holds and crew remains aboard, including the well-preserved body divers call 'Grandpa' in the engine room — making her both Isle Royale's ultimate technical dive and a de facto gravesite that must be treated with respect. Only fully qualified trimix/CCR divers on expedition charters should attempt her, and several divers have died here.
ExpertBoat entry
SS Lakeland Wreck
Wisconsin · 60–72 m
The 280-foot iron steamer Lakeland foundered six miles east of Sturgeon Bay in December 1924 while carrying a cargo of new Nash, Kissel and Rollin automobiles. She lies upright and largely intact in roughly 200-235 feet of water, broken nearly in half aft of her cargo elevator, with cars still visible in the hold. Famous since the mixed-gas era opened her to divers, the Lakeland is one of the Great Lakes' classic deep technical wrecks.
ExpertBoat entry
SS Lancing Wreck
North Carolina · 40–49 m
The Lancing was a Norwegian whale factory ship, converted to carry petroleum, torpedoed by U-552 on 7 April 1942 about 14 miles off Cape Hatteras with the loss of one of her 50 crew. The wreck rests in roughly 160 ft of water, beyond recreational limits, making it a technical dive visited by experienced deep wreck divers. It is documented by NOAA's Monitor National Marine Sanctuary as part of the Battle of the Atlantic battlefield.
ExpertBoat entry
SS Milwaukee Wreck
Wisconsin · 27–38 m
The carferry Milwaukee sailed into a violent October 1929 northeaster and foundered with all 52 aboard — the worst carferry disaster in Great Lakes history. She sits upright in about 125 feet of water off Whitefish Bay, railroad cars still on her deck, with her superstructure collapsed alongside. The depth and slowly deteriorating steel make this a serious advanced dive and a sobering piece of Lake Michigan history.
AdvancedBoat entry
SS Monarch Wreck
Michigan · 3–24.4 m
The Monarch was a heavily built Canadian wooden package freighter that smashed into The Palisades cliffs near Blake Point in a December 1906 snowstorm; most of her crew escaped to the ice-covered rocks. Large sections of her massively timbered hull lie scattered down the slope in roughly 10-80 ft of water beneath the cliff face, with artifacts like her famous bathtub photographed by NPS divers. A moderate-depth but exposed dive at the wild northeastern tip of Isle Royale — not to be confused with the tug Monarch in the St. Clair River.
IntermediateBoat entry
SS Onoko Wreck
Minnesota · 55–67 m
The Onoko, launched in 1882, was the first iron-hulled bulk freighter on the Great Lakes and a direct ancestor of the modern laker. She sprang a leak and sank in 35 minutes on September 14, 1915, about 13.5 nautical miles east of Duluth, and was found in 1988 lying upside down and broken nearly in half in roughly 220 feet of water. It is a serious trimix-level technical dive: dark, silty, very cold and far offshore, visited only by experienced technical teams.
ExpertBoat entry
SS Pewabic Wreck
Michigan · 47–51 m
The sidewheel steamer Pewabic sank within minutes on August 9, 1865 after turning into the path of her sister ship Meteor off Thunder Bay, killing between 75 and 100 people — one of the Great Lakes' worst disasters. Salvagers recovered most of her copper cargo by 1917, wrecking the cabins but leaving the 200-ft hull upright and largely intact with its deck at 155 ft and the bottom at about 165 ft. Today she is a classic entry-level technical dive in the Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary, sobering both for her history and for the divers lost on her over the years.
ExpertBoat entry
SS R.J. Hackett Wreck
Wisconsin · 3–4 m
The R.J. Hackett (1869) is widely credited as the first purpose-built Great Lakes bulk freighter, the design that defined lake shipping for a century. She burned to the waterline on Whaleback Shoal in November 1905 while carrying coal and now lies broken in 10-14 feet of water 10 miles northeast of Chambers Island in Green Bay. Her steeple engine, boiler, shaft, propeller and remnant coal cargo make a fascinating shallow dive or snorkel for boaters.
Boat entry
SS Robert Wallace Wreck
Minnesota · Up to 73 m
wooden steamship wrecked in Lake Superior in 1902
IntermediateBoat entry